Deviation
by ladyeagle117
Summary: Spoilers S5 finale. Nothing ever goes according to plan.
1. Chapter 1

_One year from today. At the reflecting pool in the mall, right next to the coffee cart._ The mall was bustling with people, teeming with life at three o'clock on a Thursday afternoon. The local high school was off for week, teenagers migrating across the courtyard in packs, talking, laughing, and generally contributing to a cacophony that characterized one of the busier places in downtown D.C.

Alone on a bench with a view of the entire square, a woman sat alone, hair obscuring her face, immersed in the dregs of a lukewarm cup of coffee, held loosely in her slacken grip. Another sat by her side, still filled to the brim and steaming slightly, still as untouched as it had been half-an-hour ago, when she'd had it crafted to his exact specifications. It was her third since she'd arrived, harried, exhausted, and distinctly disheveled, eyes ablaze with a mixture of absolute exhilaration and pure terror, straight off a Japanese connection that had touched down in Dulles at half past ten. She hadn't looked up from the intertwined hands lain carefully and deliberately in her lap for some time. He wasn't coming.

She hadn't heard from him in seven months, two weeks, four days, thirteen hours, and twenty-seven minutes, not that she was counting. In the course of a single fifteen minute video conference, he'd detailed his men, his mission, and his day to day activities, sparing her the more gruesome aspects of the realities of war. She, in turn, had waxed on about her archeological dig, the find, the bones, just how close they were to forever changing the course of history. It was all so interesting, so informative, and oh so very impersonal. Someone in the background bellowed his name. A glance over his shoulder. "Sorry, Bones, I've got to go. I…I've missed you." She bit her lip and looked down, quietly reciprocating the comment. The man bellowed again. "Day 134. I'll be waiting." He beamed. The screen went black. He was gone again. She spent the next hour and a half sobbing uncontrollably into a pillow.

A young man in combat fatigues approached her. He removed his cover and waited patiently for her to acknowledge his presence. Without looking up, she inclined her head. He began slowly, deliberately reciting what was clearly a prepared speech. "Ma'am, it is my solemn duty to inform you that Master Sergeant Seeley Booth went missing in action during the critical phase of a covert operation. He and three other men were captured saving the lives of the rest of their unit. Their whereabouts are currently unknown. Finding and rescuing these men is our highest priority. We will find the Master Sergeant, Ma'am, and we will return him to you safely. I promise." He paused tactfully, waiting for a response. She merely bit her lip and bade him continue.

He proffered an envelope, neatly addressed to Dr. Temperance Brennan. "This is for you, from the Master Sergeant." She accepted it gratefully, looking up for the first time, so that he might see her red rimmed eyes.

"Thank you." Only the crack of her voice betrayed just how close she was to tears.

"Good day, Ma'am." The young man, a mere boy, she observed, a boy transformed into a man before his time, but still a boy at heart, melted into the crowd, leaving her speechless, alone on a bench in the hub of Washington, isolated from the bustling crowd, oblivious to the chatter, the laughter, the frivolity and the joy, separated from the rest of the world as if by a simple curtain formed of a simple truth: he was gone.

That night, alone in her apartment, curled up on the couch in front of a muted television, a glass of wine in one hand, with the rest of the bottle and a full box of tissues well within reach, the sheer combined brightness of every light in her possession tattooed the inky night sky, a beacon for him, should he choose to see it. It was insane, it was illogical, it was absolutely useless, and yet it was absolutely necessary. She was giving up on Booth if she didn't try, and there was not a force on Earth that could drive her to do anything of the sort. So the lights were on to call him home, television to stamp out the loneliness, wine to drown the sorrow. Her cheeks were stained with tears.

* * *

Through watery eyes, she contemplated the envelope in her quivering hand. Its magnitude frightened her beyond all possibility, and yet she found herself slowly tearing it open. It contained a single sheet of slightly yellowed paper, a short missive scrawled in hasty print, in his handwriting.

_Hopefully you're reading this Thursday. Rebecca will be down in two days with Parker. If it isn't too much trouble, would you mind watching him for me? It'll only be for a short while, but it would be a great help to the both of us and he's missed you a lot. I have too. A lot._

_Don't worry about me, Bren, regardless of whatever official story they told you about what happened out here. You're on my list this time. I made sure of it. You are my list this time, Bones. Just don't worry. I promise you I'll be back soon. I'm sorry I stood you up earlier. It'll never happen again. I owe you one day and counting. Leave a light on for me._

_Love,_

_Booth_


	2. Chapter 2

A year's worth of dust blanketed the apartment. It was exactly the way she remembered it, from the positioning of the pictures on the mantle down to a single sock abandoned on the living room floor. He might have walked out a minute ago, in need of a carton of juice or another roll of paper towels. Except for the dust. The scars on her heart had almost healed. At the very least, they didn't flay open with its every thudding beat. Thoughts of him were less and less accompanied by pain, replaced by bated breath and silent anticipation, faded memories of the way things were and hope for what they yet could be. It helped that she was now counting down the days instead of counting up, the promise of his presence so real she could taste it. He might have been gone for a weekend. She an afternoon. Only the steady accumulation of minute particulates in this timeless place proved just how much time had passed.

Thoughts of time brought her back to him, as all thoughts invariably did, and thoughts of him brought her back to thoughts of time, to thoughts of forever. There were two kinds of forever. The forever she could spend with him if she ever screwed up the courage to tear down the walls around her heart long enough to let him in, and the forever she could spend without him if he never walked back through that door. And now she was back at square one, worried without reason and frightened beyond all imagination and not at all certain why she was standing alone in her partner's apartment, staring intently at the foremost photograph on the mantle: the two of them, together, smiling, laughing, a cherished, long forgotten moment frozen in time. Time. Booth. Forever. Gone. She desperately needed something to do. A mindless, menial task to clear her head and busy her hands. She grabbed a dishtowel and a bottle of Windex and went to work.

* * *

"Dr. Bones!" She jerked forward involuntarily as the little boy launched himself at her, snaking his arms around her waist and pulling her into a tight embrace. She ran an affectionate hand through his sandy locks, unable to suppress a giddy smile.

"Hey Parker!"

"You're back!" he squealed, shooting her a hundred-watt grin before squeezing her again. "Daddy says you were in the jungle looking at their bones because they don't have anyone as smart as you to do it for them. Just like he had to go to Afghanistan because they needed him to save people's lives. He told me all about it. He wrote me every day." His clear blue eyes lit up with excitement as he released Brennan, searching in earnest as if she had a surprise hidden behind her back, just out of sight. "Is Daddy here? He's here, right? He said he was coming home today. I want to tell him all about the experiment we did in science. We had this flower and –"

"Parker?" He continued to babble cheerfully about the color-changing petals, all the while looking in vain for some glimpse of a burly man in ACUs. "Parker, look at me." She crouched down to face him. His eyes met hers, still glowing with expectation and enthusiasm.

"Yeah, Bones?"

"Your Daddy's not here right now. Something came up in Afghanistan. He's got to stay a few more days to sort things out and make sure that all of his men are safe before he can come home."

"Oh." The little boy's face fell. "Okay." He scuffed the toe of his boot against the wood floor, trying to mask his disappointment.

She gently lifted his chin so that his eyes were level with hers. "He also told me to tell you that he loves you very much and that he can't wait to see you again." He nodded, almost imperceptibly, resuming his thorough examination of his shoes. "If you hurry up and put your things in your room, we'll go get something to eat and I can tell you all sorts of stories about the jungle. Who knows? You might even get ice cream out of the deal." He beamed and tore off down the hall, dragging a ratty backpack behind him, troubles momentarily forgotten in a haze of promised treats.

She straightened up, smiling, and turned to face Rebecca, who had been watching the entire scene from the doorway. "Seeley's not back yet?" She looked genuinely concerned. "Has something happened? Is he okay?"

Brennan tried to detach herself from the conversation. She knew where this line of inquiry was headed: straight down a road far too painful to even contemplate. She had managed to see Booth's crooked little smile plastered on Parker's face without completely breaking down. Surely she could manage a few sentences in a two minute conversation. "Booth appears to be alright, though, at the moment, there is little but anecdotal evidence to support any such claims. The official story is that he went missing in action with two other men in his unit. He, however, told me otherwise. At the moment, I'm not capable of separating fact from fiction. He did, however, ask me to watch Parker for the next few days, which I plan to do. We will be around here, mostly. Parker is out of school now, so I thought perhaps a daytrip to the Smithsonian might be in order."

"That sounds fantastic. I –" At that moment, he came rushing into the room.

"C'mon, Bones, let's go!" He tugged at her shirt, anxious to be gone, smiling widely, eyes pleading. For an instant, she wasn't looking down at the sandy haired child, but at her partner, with those same pleading eyes, that same crooked smile. Booth's face stared up at her, a precious site she hadn't set eyes on for seven months, two weeks, six days, sixteen hours, and forty-eight minutes, not including several hours' time change. She shook her head, trying to erase the image of him from her mind, the feel of him from her body, and forced a grin.

"Well then say goodbye to your mother and let's get out of here."


End file.
